1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a center-filled chewing gum having a fruit juice concentrate in its cavity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A center-filled chewing gum generally has an outer chewing gum shell enclosing a cavity and a liquid center-fill within the cavity.
Fruit juice containing products usually have great consumer appeal because of the connection between fruit juice and a healthy lifestyle. However, there is no fruit juice center-filled chewing gum in the marketplace today. Consumers cannot get the real fruit juice-like feel in regular stick gums utilizing fruit juice, and gums made with freeze-dried fruit juice are sticky to chew. A center-filled chewing gum containing a fruit juice concentrate in its cavity would typically be unstable because the fruit juice concentrate, due to its low pH, causes the sugar in the gum shell and in the liquid center-fill to undergo inversion. As a result, the gum shell collapses into the center-filled cavity. The center-filled chewing gum becomes organoleptically unacceptable with an unstable, short shelf life.
Because of the difficulties encountered in making a fruit juice center-filled chewing gum that has a stable shelf life and is organoleptically acceptable, all fruit juice containing chewing gum products up to the present time use the fruit juice as an additive or as a replacement for softeners in the chewing gum composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,971 discloses a fluid fruit juice concentrate-plasticizer composition for use as an additive to chewing gum. The fruit juice concentrate must be dehydrated to a very low moisture content in order to have a chewing gum with a stable shelf life.
Canadian Patent Application No. 2,027,177 discloses chewing gum compositions containing concentrated fruit juices as a flavoring agent and as a replacement for other additives such as softeners, plasticizers, and bulking agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 810,210 discloses a chewing gum piece having a cavity filled with a liquid or semi-liquid such as a fruit syrup.